Discord's Nightmare
by Celey
Summary: "I never dream of such things. Ask Princess Luna." Even a draconequus is not immune to nightmares. Set before the Season 4 Finale.


Was it so odd that a creature who could drink the glass of a glass of chocolate milk and summon cotton candy clouds of chocolate rain needed to sleep? Yes. Yes, it was. And so, Discord the Draconequus slept...

In a poof of pink smoke and butterflies, Discord appeared in a meadow, paw and claw crossed over his chest. Electric sheep with letters printed in their wool jumped over a candy cane fence while they bleated musical notes.

Discord scowled at them. "What in Equestria are you ewes doing here? We have a performance to put on! Chop, chop, lambchops." He clapped twice, and all of the electric sheep were backstage putting on their tutus. "Places, everyone! Don't break a leg yet, Letter A!" He looked over his clipboard of random doodles, then looked up and noticed one of the electric sheep dozing off.

"Letter Z, how many TIMES have I told you that the stage is no place for a nap?" A neon green lightbulb appeared over Discord's head. "OH! Wait! That would be brilliant for one of the lines in the all-Discord chorus! Z! I'm giving you a raise!"

The electric ewe sleepily bleated a B flat in happiness. Discord doodled something else on his clipboard, peeked out at the audience, then turned back to the electric sheep in tutus. "Let the show begin!"

Music played, aided by the musical bleating of the electric sheep as they danced ballet. Discord slid onto stage with a microphone. "I'm DISCOOOORD, I'm howling at the moon!" A pillow appeared before him, and he pretended to doze. "And sleeping in the middle of a summer afternooo-"

Suddenly, the door to the theater burst open, revealing the Mane Six. Discord appeared in front of them while a copy of himself continued performing on stage. "My little ponies! So glad you could make it in time for my big debut performance." Discord blinked out and blinked back in, hovering above Fluttershy. "Especially my good friend, Fluttershy, but I knew _you_ wouldn't miss it for the world. You're just in time to see me dance the can-can!" He grinned at her, but Fluttershy didn't grin back.

All of the Mane Six were glaring at him, which was something he was used to, but Fluttershy didn't look at him like that. He withdrew from her, frowning. "I can't help but think I'm missing something," Discord said, stroking his goatee.

"Don't play innocent with us! We know this is your doing!"

Discord glanced at the stage, rolled his eyes, and shot an unamused expression in their direction. "Of course, this is my doing. I'm the director, producer, and writer of this show." Credits appeared in front of the Mane Six rapidly scrolling down before them.

"We're not talking about your stupid show, Discord," Twilight said, stomping a hoof on the ground.

It didn't hurt _that _much. The credits popped out of existence. He turned up his head. "Everypony's a critic, I suppose."

"We're going to do a lot more than criticize. All of my apple trees are in ruins! Literally. What's the big idea having all those ancient stone blocks raining down on my trees? You darn near gave Big Macintosh a concussion when one landed on his head!" Applejack said. Her glare was the fiercest of all.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Discord pointed to the stage with his thumb. "I've been here this whole time."

"You turned Gummy into a toad, you monster!" Pinkie Pie said, baring her teeth.

"Well, that actually sounds like an improvement," Discord snapped. _What is this all about? _he wondered. _I haven't done anything wrong. These ponies are acting even crazier than I am._

"So, you admit it. Uncouth brute! I bet you're also responsible for turning all the gems in Equestria into plain, boring rocks!" Rarity said.

"I'm not admitting anything, and why would I do something so boring?" Discord summoned a rock into his paw and turned it into a giggling daisy. "Gems make far better flowers than rocks."

"Because it doesn't make sense. We should've known you would go back to your old ways," Twilight said, her horn starting to glow.

"I haven't!" He hovered back towards Fluttershy, trying to smile at her. "Fluttershy, you'll vouch for me, won't you? Tell them I'm not responsible for whatever mess they're wrongfully accusing me of. I'm innocent!" A halo appeared over his head. "They're not even giving me a chance to defend myself."

"No, you're not innocent!" Fluttershy said, in an uncharacteristically harsh tone of voice. Discord shrank at the tone in her voice but only slightly so. "Twilight's right. I knew you'd turn on us, eventually. I guess pretending to be your friend isn't enough to keep you from ruining Equestria!"

The background shattered... as did his heart. "Pretend?" Discord whispered. Everything became black around him. The Mane Six took a step forward, and then suddenly stopped as if frozen. Their bodies looked dull and grey.

A beam of moonlight broke into the darkness, and Luna stepped towards him. Discord was still reeling from Fluttershy's words, but he soon noticed her. "Oh. It's you. Then, I'm having a nightmare. Again," he said, coolly. He tried not to look like he had been affected by it.

"Indeed," Luna said, her posture straight and her expression grave and serious. "I must insist you let me banish this one before it gets out of control this time. It is already a powerful nightmare."

"I've told you before I can handle this myself. I'm the master of chaos. I don't need a princess to chase away the bogeyman for me."

Luna said nothing for a moment, only staring him down. Then, she faced the nightmare-Mane Six and glanced back at Discord. "Your bravado does you no good here, Discord. Do you not remember last night's nightmare or the one before that? Can you say you are handling it well when you keep having these nightmares?"

Discord crossed his arms and looked away from her. She was right, of course. For all his magic, he wasn't able to dispel the nightmares that had been plaguing him since he became Fluttershy's friend. Occasionally, he was able to simply wake up from them. Sometimes, he would go several nights without sleep, subsisting on tea, coffee, and fine china to keep himself awake. But he could never drive them away. Last night, when he couldn't wake himself up, he degraded himself to begging Princess Luna to make it stop. It was horrible... in more ways than one.

He wasn't going to let that happen again. "Fine," he grumbled.

Luna's horn glowed with powerful, alicorn magic, and the nightmare was driven off, leaving behind a blank, white space. "I can guide you to a more pleasant dream, if you wish."

"Oh? You would do that? For me?" Discord batted his eyelashes, his tone of voice oh-so-sarcastic; then, he blinked out and blinked in above Luna. He glared down at her. "Haven't you done enough already? Honestly, has it ever occurred to you that someponies want to keep their dreams to themselves?" He gestured at the blank, white space in a vague manner.

"This is my royal duty," Luna said, her voice and stance firm. Then, her expression softened. "Discord, these nightmares are only going to continue and grow stronger. You need to deal with the feelings and doubts behind them. I'm sure if you talked to Fluttershy-"

Discord opened and closed his claw in a yapping motion. "Oh, you do go on, don't you, princess? I don't know why you even bother, if not to lord yourself over me like your dear sister."

"The friend of my friends is my friend," Luna said simply.

Discord gave pause at that before quickly turning his head up. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves, hm? Just because I'm reformed now due to friendship doesn't mean I enjoy you or your sister's company. You two are terribly boring; though, I'll give you some credit. You are slightly _less _boring than your sister, not that it says much." He would have saw fit to dress Luna up in something to make her more entertaining, but alas, she had far more power in the realm of dreams than he did.

Luna narrowed her eyes. "You still have a lot to learn. Sometimes, I-" She stopped and held her tongue. She was not going to wonder aloud how Fluttershy put up with Discord, especially not after the nightmare. She was better than that. "I think I will leave since I'm not wanted here, but know that I will not allow anypony's nightmares to go unchecked, even yours." She turned her back on him and walked away, fading out as she did so.

Discord stuck his tongue out at her after her back had turned and kept it like that until she faded completely. He looked around at the blank, white space around him and sighed. "Guess there's nothing else for me to do but wake up."

He stopped levitating in his spinning maze of a house that was decorated with bizarre trees, pictures of himself (and a couple of Fluttershy here and there), and many other odds and ends. It was, of course, bigger on the inside than on the outside, and it never stayed in one place for very long. It was only just nearing morning. He took a look at his surroundings and grumbled under his breath. He hated this whole nightmare business. He hated these unpleasant feelings that plagued him so. Just what was it all for? He snapped his fingers, and the maze in his home disappeared, conforming to a more normal-house like structure. He stretched, and the house stopped spinning. He tapped his foot, and everything came crashing to the ground. He dove into a room, and all manner of noises from banging, clanging, and the sliding of heavy furniture could be heard. A number of poof sounds could also be heard.

Well into the day, the noises and movement of Discord continued and was only halted by a knock on the door. In a flash, Discord suddenly was the door, and he glared at the pony that dared knock on his home. "What do you wa-oh!"

Fluttershy blinked at the Discord-door, then beamed. "I was just on my way to check on some animal friends of mine, and I noticed your house here. I thought I'd pop in for a visit, if... that's okay with you. I hope you don't mind." She glanced back at the ordinary mailbox in front of Discord's house. "I almost didn't recognize your place, usually your mailbox is an upside-down bowling pin or... well, not like a mailbox at all."

Discord's face in the door disappeared, and the door appeared ordinary again. The door opened. "Yes, well, nothing wrong with a little change from the usual, is there? That's who I am." He stepped to the side. "Do come in, Fluttershy. I was just doing a bit of redecorating."

Fluttershy stepped into his home and was shocked to find it normal. Completely and utterly normal. Perhaps even bland. Discord was wielding a pink feather-duster and made his way to a completely ordinary bookshelf. He brushed the feather-duster over it without so much as a peep.

Fluttershy had been to Discord's house before. She had never seen it look anything like this. His house had always been strange and ever-changing, but this... somehow, this normalcy coming from him was the strangest thing she had ever encountered. "Oh my. Well, um, it does look nice," she said, slowly and uncertainly.

Discord forced a grin. "Doesn't it, though?" He despised what he was doing even as he was doing it.

"Um, yes?" She nodded, looked away from Discord, then looked back, considering him. "How are you doing today?"

"Me? Why, I'm doing wonderfully, my dear. Are you staying long? Would you like some tea?" He snapped his fingers and a platter with a teapot, a cup of sugar, and two empty cups of tea appeared before her floating in mid-air. "Snacks?" A wide variety of snacks poofed in front of Fluttershy.

"Oh, some tea would be nice, but I probably shouldn't stay too long. I wouldn't want to keep any of my animal friends waiting."

The snacks poofed away, and the tea poured itself into a cup for Fluttershy. Discord flopped down onto a couch and stretched himself out. "Oh. I see. So, you really are just popping in, hm?" He let Fluttershy take her cup of tea before the platter hovered over to him. He opened his mouth wide and shoved the entire platter, teapot and all, into his mouth.

Fluttershy didn't even blink at him doing that and continued to sip her tea.

"Are you sure Princess Luna didn't send you to check up on me?" He dabbed at his mouth with a handkerchief, appearing cool, casual, and as nonchalant as ever. "I'm afraid she's quite the little busy-body. And such a gossip. Prone to exaggerating everything she says. Well, I mean, you've seen her, haven't you? She still slips into that whole royal voice thing every now and again. It'd be hilarious if it weren't so annoying." His tail flicked in agitation, and the floating nightstand in his bedroom stopped floating.

"I haven't seen Princess Luna at all today," Fluttershy said, then leveled a stern look at him. "And I don't think she'd appreciate you talking behind her back like that."

"Well, it's not like she can hear," Discord grumbled and turned over on the couch, his back facing Fluttershy. Unless this was another dream... Suddenly aware that he was lying down, he blinked off the couch and blinked onto the handle of Fluttershy's teacup as a miniature version of himself. Fortunately, Fluttershy didn't startle too badly. She was getting used to Discord's shenanigans. They were almost comfortable, now.

"That doesn't make it a nice thing to do," Fluttershy told him.

"Yes, yes, fine." Discord waved his claw, then vanished off the handle of the teacup and went back to dusting with the pink feather-duster. "Well, you're busy, I'm busy. So much to do, so little time. I won't keep you."

Fluttershy frowned in thought. She wondered why he had brought up Luna in the first place. She took a look around at Discord's unusually normal house, and it dawned on her that Discord just might be upset or unsettled about something. It was hard to tell. Discord was difficult to read, there was hardly ever a time he didn't seem confident and sure of himself, and whenever he said anything about how he was feeling, it was difficult to tell if it was the truth or not. Even as they were growing closer in their friendship, Fluttershy still felt like there were many things about him she didn't know.

"Discord, did you have a nightmare last night? Is that why you asked me about Princess Luna?"

Discord might have frozen for less than a second before he blinked in front of Fluttershy, all smiles. On the inside, he was berating himself. Sometimes, he forgot that Fluttershy was more observant and clever than even her friends gave her credit for. He laughed. "Nightmare? Dear, dear Fluttershy, where in Equestria would you ever get the idea that I, the master of chaos, suffer from such things?" He patted her on the head in a patronizing manner. "Usually, I'm the stuff nightmares are made of."

"You mean you used to be," Fluttershy said.

"I mean I am. At least, that's what I've heard. In fact, the last time I tried to visit your friend, Applejack, she muttered under her breath..." His face suddenly looked like Applejack's, and his voice sounded like her, too. "This is a nightmare." He returned to his original form and voice and crossed his paw and claw over his chest.

Fluttershy wasn't sure if that was true, but she would have to check in with Applejack. Given that Applejack was probably the most resistant to friendship with Discord, she couldn't consider it an outright lie.

"I'll talk to Applejack," she said, patting Discord on the back in a reassuring manner. "In the meantime, you can tell me about the nightmare you were having. It helps to talk things out with a friend when you're afraid."

Discord gave a helpless little shrug. "There's nothing to talk about. I told you already, I don't have nightmares. Can you really even imagine me having them?"

Fluttershy nodded her head. "Oh, yes. Everypony gets scared, sometimes, even Rainbow Dash, and she's the bravest pony I know."

Discord's ears perked at that, and he leaned in closer to his pegasus friend. "Oh? And what sort of things might she be afraid of?"

"Maybe when you two become closer friends, you can ask her," Fluttershy said, cheerfully. Discord wasn't the only one who could deflect and evade questions. "But I know I'm afraid of a lot of things. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

He should've known getting some dirt on Rainbow Dash wouldn't be that easy. _Oh well. _He went back to smiling. "Well, of course, you are. It's not so surprising Rainbow Dash has fears, either. You two are ponies, after all. But me? I'm not a pony. What could I possibly be afraid of?"

Fluttershy ventured a guess. "The Elements of Harmony?"

Discord lost a little bit of his cool and gritted his teeth. "A reasonable amount of caution around such things is not the same as fear." He tried to rein himself in. "Besides, those elements are now safely tucked away in a tree. Your point is invalid."

The pink-haired pegasus frowned, then sighed. "Okay. It's okay. I understand if you don't want to talk about it." She offered him a smile, and then embraced him. Hugs had a tendency to catch Discord off guard. "But I want you to know that if anything is bothering you, anything at all, you can always talk to me about it."

The spark of temper cooled in an instant at her gentle words, and Discord returned the hug. He smiled softly at her. "Thank you."

Fluttershy beamed. It was always nice to see him using his manners. "You're welcome. That's what friends are for."

Discord pushed away his unsettled feelings and nodded. "Yes. I guess it is." He grinned and snapped his fingers. The door opened, bridge-gate style. "Your company is always appreciated here, Fluttershy. Stop by anytime." He escorted her out.

"Oh, thank you. It's always nice spending time with a friend." Fluttershy noticed that mailbox now looked like a wooden flamingo. She wondered if that meant he was feeling better. She smiled at him. "Have a nice day, Discord!" She waved at him and continued on her way.

Discord waved until she was out of sight, then he shut the door. He clapped his hands twice, and chaos swept through the house, missing only a few pockets of organization and normalcy. He blinked into his bedroom and laid back on the air, looking at the photo of him and Fluttershy on his nightstand.

What reason had she given him to doubt her friendship? None that he could think of. She had always been kind and good to him. Still, the doubts lingered. What if it really was just an act? He was fooling himself if he thought he was the only one who could be manipulative. Especially now that the Elements of Harmony were gone, wasn't Fluttershy keeping up a charade of friendship that much more important? He curled his body up tight and summoned another tea platter. It would do nothing to soothe him.


End file.
